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Gambit, Part II (episode)
Picard and Riker try to find out what the pirates want while the Enterprise pursues them. Summary The is hit with a barrage of fire from the mercenary vessel where Riker is being held prisoner. The Enterprise fires back, forcing the mercenary ship to withdraw. Data orders the crew to let the ship go, assuming that this is what Riker wants. Later, on the mercenary ship, Riker and Picard stage a heated argument. Their acrimonious relationship arouses Tallera's suspicions, and she later interrogates Picard. Her questions stop when Picard's tests reveal that they have found one of the artifacts they are looking for. They immediately notify Baran, who is being fooled by Riker's portrayal of a less-than-ideal Starfleet officer. Baran says he might like to continue to work with Riker, and tells him to kill Picard. Alone with Picard in his quarters, Riker fills him in on Baran's plan, including the fact that he is supposed to kill Picard after the authenticity of the final artifact is confirmed. Riker reveals that they are headed to the Hyralan sector to pick up the artifact, which will be Romulan in origin, from a Klingon transport ship. Picard, however, states that the artifacts are actually all Vulcan in origin. Tallera bursts in and pulls a phaser on Picard, demanding to be told his true identity. Tallera reveals that she is a Vulcan officer on a mission of her own. The artifacts being sought are fragments of the mythical Stone of Gol, a powerful weapon she believes is being sought by a Vulcan isolationist group. She explains that the stone is a psionic resonator, a device that focuses and amplifies telepathic energy. If the stone were reassembled and used by a trained telepath, the weapon could eliminate the entire Vulcan council with a single thought. Meanwhile, in the Hyralan sector, the Enterprise is surprised to encounter a Klingon ship. Suspicious, Data commands the right to inspect the vessel. When the mercenaries learn what has happened, Baran orders Riker and Picard to invade the Enterprise and retrieve the artifact, then secretly tells Riker that he expects him to kill Picard after the raid. Picard, Riker, and Narik materialize onto the Enterprise and look for Koral, the Klingon pilot who possesses the artifact. Once Picard identifies it as the item they are seeking, Riker pulls a phaser on him. However, Picard is faster and instead shoots Riker, apparently killing him. Picard and Narik then return to the mercenary ship, and Riker, who was really only stunned, regains consciousness and explains the situation to the Enterprise crew. Back on the mercenary ship, Picard attempts to lead a mutiny, but Baran reaches for the control device connected to the patch in Picard's neck and activates the device, killing himself instead of Picard. Picard then explains that he switched the transponder codes. Next he orders the crew to deliver the artifacts as planned. On the Enterprise, Riker notifies Vulcan security that their operative is on her way, and learns that the Vulcans have no one stationed on any mercenary ship. Meanwhile, Picard realizes that Tallera is hiding two resonator pieces. Picard stops her as she prepares to go, ordering her to leave one piece behind. They find the third resonator piece in a cave, where Tallera uses the now-completed device to kill Narik and Vekor. She turns on Picard just as Riker, Worf, and two security guards materialize in the cave. Picard orders them to drop their weapons and to clear their minds of aggressive thoughts, realizing from the images on the resonator that it can be stopped with peace. The plan works, and Tallera drops the now-useless weapon. She is taken into custody, and the resonator is finally completely destroyed. Memorable Quotes "Will, you always seem to be after my job." : - Picard, to Riker Background Information * It is revealed in this episodes that Vulcan is one of the founding worlds of the Federation. It would not be revealed until that the other three are Earth, Andoria and Tellar. * NBA star James Worthy's appearance as came about due to a chance meeting with Robert O'Reilly on an airplane. Worthy admitted his desire to appear on the show. At O'Reilly's urging, Worthy met with Rick Berman and Michael Piller, who in turn asked Jeri Taylor for suitable cameo roles. This timed perfectly with the need for filler elements in this episode, and thus Koral was created. (ST: TNG Companion) * Naren Shankar based the Vulcan subplot here on Spock's admission in that a Vulcan could kill for a logical reason. He decided to take a different tone for the Vulcans: "We went for people who very logically felt that Vulcan's problems were linked to contamination by illogical people, so in a logical sense you say 'Get rid of them'...a very logical way to arrive at racism." (ST: TNG Companion) * According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, several place names and objects in this episode are homages to previous episodes: **Yadalla Prime was originally Yonada, to be the presumed destination of the people in , but it was changed to the need for presumed Romulan origins. ** Barradas III was a homage to Beratis, one of the names for the Redjac entity in . ** The Stone of Gol was named after the plateau where Spock studied in . ** Draken IV was previously mentioned in , also written by Shankar. * Worf reports a direct hit to the port nacelle when it is the starboard nacelle that's been fired upon. * After Data reprimands Worf in the ready room, he imitates Picard's tucking in of his shirt when standing up (commonly refered to as a Picard maneuver). * In early drafts of the script the psionic resonator was much more powerful, capable of killing millions of people at a time. (ST: TNG Companion) * Initially the Vulcan god of death was bald, until Rick Berman ordered hair to be etched on to avoid resemblance to Patrick Stewart in close-ups. (ST: TNG Companion) * Ronald B. Moore, effects supervisor, is incorrectly credited with an initial "D" in the end credits, which confuses him with writer and producer Ronald D. Moore. Video and DVD releases *UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 79, . *In feature-length form, as part of the UK VHS release Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Full Length TV Movies: Volume 9, catalogue number VHR 4109, . *As part of the US video collection Star Trek - The Greatest Battles: . *As part of the UK video collection Star Trek - Greatest Battles: . *As part of the TNG Season 7 DVD collection. *In feature-length form, as part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete TV Movies collection. Links and References Guest Stars *Richard Lynch as Arctus Baran *Robin Curtis as Tallera/T'Paal *Caitlin Brown as Vekor *Cameron Thor as Narik *James Worthy as Koral *Sabrina LeBeauf as Ensign Giusti *Martin Goslins as Satok Uncredited Co-Stars *Steve Blalock as an operations division crewman *Eugenie Bondurant as female Marauder *Kerry Hoyt as a security ensign References bloodwine; health and safety inspection; Hyralan sector; mythology; psionic resonator; symbology; ''Toron''-class; T'Karath Sanctuary |next= }} Category:TNG episodes de:Der Schachzug, Teil II es:Gambit, Part II nl:Gambit, Deel II